A fresh challenge to show there is no stitch-up

Rumours suggests the centre-right has found a response to its critics.

Rumour has it that a second candidate for the presidency of the European Parliament has emerged within the centre-right EPP-ED group.

Italy’s Mario Mauro is allegedly ready to challengeJerzy Buzek, the former Polish prime minister, who is lined up to replace Hans-Gert Pöttering. Those impatient to see the presidency go to someone from a country that joined the EU in 2004 should not worry too much. Mauro’s candidacy is supposed to show to the world that the presidency is contested through a robust and genuine competition between candidates – and that talk of a stitch-up is Eurosceptic propaganda. So that’s alright, then.